Free The Bachelor's Baby (Bachelor Auction Book 3) by Dani Collins Page A

and sent back, Try not to get too deep into that cupboard of booze .
    Too late , he replied, and that was the last she heard of him.
    March was a busy time for any ranch, she reminded herself, and if he had a barn to tarp and re-roof along with a house he was rebuilding, he didn’t have time for long distance flirting.
    Or he might have someone else in his life.
    The thought was like an ice pick in her chest, one she masochistically wielded to carve out her longing for more with him. It was so futile!
    Besides, work was busy and required her full concentration. She had her eye on a full-time morning anchor position.
    She remained distracted as the weeks passed, however, thinking about Linc while feeling moody and lovesick, flu-ish and tired. She was on her last nerve, thinking mornings were definitely not for her, hating how badly coffee was upsetting her stomach lately, forcing her to give it up when she needed it most. Then the station’s security manager caught up to her as she was coming out of the ladies’ room one day around ten am. She’d almost thrown up again and really did not need Gavin’s dogged determination to talk to her right now.
    “It’s important,” he said, following her into her office and closing the door. “I just got a call. He posted bail.”
    “Who—What? No! How? ” she cried, thinking that it really didn’t matter how her stalker had wound up on the street, only that he had. “Oh my God, I really am going to throw up,” she groaned, reaching for a tissue and pressing it to her lips, fighting nausea and light-headedness as she drew her wastebasket closer to her feet.
    “Flu?” Gavin guessed. “There’s always something going around this time of year, isn’t there?” he grumbled. “At least you’re not pregnant. That would be—”
    He cut himself off as she shot him a panicked look, the word hitting her like a bullet.
    “Are you kidding?” he muttered under his breath, dipping his head, thick brows going flat and heavy with gravity.
    She couldn’t be. Could she? She was vaguely aware she was staring at him, but kind of saw right through him to Marietta and a man gilded in firelight.
    Snatching up her mobile, she opened her period app. She was way overdue. Like totally missed one and was due for another.
    It had to be wrong. Please let it be wrong. Except she knew deep down that it wasn’t the app that had gone wrong.
    He’d used a condom!
    Mostly. They’d been a bit sleepy and sexy that last time, putting off when he’d put it on, but…
    She swore. Slapped the phone down and dumped her forehead into her hand, elbow braced on her desktop. A whimper lodged itself in her throat.
    This was something that happened to high school kids. Not her. They hadn’t been that careless. It had just been a bit of teasing and fooling around.
    “Seriously?” Gavin asked.
    “No! I mean… No ,” she insisted, because it was too much to take in. But it was possible. Improbable, but possible. And what other reason did a woman have for being this late with her cycle? She was not about to wish something awful on herself like cancer.
    But a baby? She was so not prepared for this.
    A knock at the door had her jerking her head up. One of the interns leaned in. “You’re on in five with your Look Ahead.” She glanced between her and Gavin. “Trouble?”
    They all knew what kind of precautions Meg had been living under until a month and a half ago. The intern’s face fell into sympathetic lines.
    Meg wasn’t about to explain she was white and near tears because a lot more than news about her stalker had arrived. A baby? How on earth would she manage all those restrictions pregnant? With an infant? If she took time off, would the station still pay for guards? She couldn’t even think about how terrifying it would be to have a baby’s safety to worry about along with her own.
    In silence, she rose and wound her way to the news desk, probably looking and sounding like a zombie as she said